Tides Inn on the Rappahannock and Safety from Earl

Crab Fest Carnival Moves In Off the Stern of the MJ

As the carnival for the Crab Festival moved into Crisfield, we moved out at 6:30 a.m.  We hated to leave the area as there was easy access to swimming, museums, hardware store and a great restaurant (Watermen’s Inn).  Brian and Kathy, owners and chefs, do an outstanding job.  We could have eaten every meal there and in fact, it was the best crab cake dinner I’d eaten.  But Sunday brunch there was the best because we learned all the city news.  First the Methodists come to eat followed by the Catholics.  The former commodore of the yacht club and the city councilman were both there on Sunday to fill us in on the city politics and happenings.  And, they both are hoping for a big Crab Fest turnout irregardless of Hurricane Earl.  However, since Alan’s dad’s name was Earl, he hopes that this hurricane Earl won’t come looking for the Muriel (his mother) June.

Yes, we are watching Earl and the following hurricanes carefully.  Today, we cruised south and west past Tangier Island and many crab boats to the Virginia side of the Chesapeake.  Up the Rappahannock River is a wonderful small inn that has been here for over 50 years.  We are safely tucked at their marina and will enjoy the amenities offered here: pool, tennis, kayaking, etc.  We also have a quaint town to bicycle through with lovely old homes.

Famous Smith Island Cake

The Famous Smith Island Ten Layer Cake

For anyone coming to this part of the country, besides crab cakes, and crabs in almost every dish, the famous Smith Island 12 layer cake is a must!  It is the official cake of Maryland and can either have orange, chocolate or fig filling.  So, yes, we ferried to Smith Island this morning and tried the cake which was delicious.  And, the lady at the museum sat down and wrote out the recipe for me with verbal directions on the baking process.

Smith Island is much like Tangier, but bigger with three town centers instead of one and heavily influenced by the Methodist preachers from the 1800’s.  Thus, the heart of each little township is the Methodist church and social events revolve around the church.  Women on Smith Island work hard, many in the crab business with their husbands, cleaning the crabs and getting the meat out for sale.  Tedious work!  But, in the shacks where they work, they sing hymns to keep their minds occupied.  Lovely!!

We bought Katherine Patterson’s Newbery Award (1980) Jacob Have I Loved to re-read the setting and discuss how it played into the entire book.  Patterson, was here and studied the crab fishing and the crab business that all who live here endure, one way or another by actually crabbing or being at home waiting and watching for spouses and cleaning the crabs or waiting for crabs to molt to sell to the crab processor as soft shell crabs.  There are three types: hard shell, peelers, and soft shell.

Alan and I also went into the little shops and stopped in one to have a root beer float!!  Think of an 18th century general store with articles and staples from past decades still on the shelves, wooden tables in the center, and town people coming in for a soda, shake or sandwich and sharing the local news.  We sat, listened to their their 17th century accents, and enjoyed the remoteness of it all as people are absorbed in their own island culture and business.  As one waterman said, “We do only the reaping out here.”

Tangier Island

Ladies Talk Between Carts Even While Driving

Crab Traps Stacked High on Docks With Molting Sheds in Back

Remote and with a 17th century English/Cornwall accent, the people of Tangier island have been here a long time.  Capt John Smith first explored the island between 1607 and 1609 but it was later settled the end of the 17th century by Pruitts and Crocketts.  Both their family name and accents endure today.  We loved our walk through this village where the school houses grades K-12 with about 65 students, with an average class size of 6.  We heard that when kids leave the island to head to college they never come back.  Still, we were enchanted by the numerous soft shell crab shanties built over the water.  Watermen catch crabs and if they are the “right color” it signals they will be molting soon. They are put in special salt water containers and watched for their molting cycle to begin (about every 5 hours), at which time they are snatched out and shipped to fancy restaurants who serve “soft shell crabs.”

The population on the island reflected an aging population and many older women who stay and wait for their waterman husband.  We loved the friendly atmosphere where everyone drives a golf cart (island is electric).  Ladies chat while driving, read their mail while driving and wave or talk to everyone they pass.  Here everyone picks up their mail at the post office. (You can just imagine how much local gossip the postmaster has.) We loved the report of the lady who lived 114 years (1796 to 1910) who recorded her experience when the British occupied the island during the War of 1812. She warned the British that if they went into Baltimore they would lose the war.  And, they did!

People here are proud of their heritage and how long they’ve lived on the island.  In front of the Methodist church are memorials to those on the island who gave their lives in the first and second World Wars.  I imagine that entire families were lost during those times.  From the cemetery records, World War II was particularly hard on the families here.

Today, watermen have their family licenses for fishing, crabbing, or catching oysters.  Once those family licenses expire, the state buys them.  In addition to the watermen, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation also has a huge research facility.  It records the health of the bay, the estuaries, and the wildlife cycles.  We are impressed at how much scientific data is used to daily collect information on the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Crisfield, The Seafood Capital of the World

Beautiful Day Off the Stern of the MJ Crossing the Chesapeake

Old US Navy Ship Sunk in Chesapeake Bay Used For Target Practice

Breezy, 75 degrees, calm seas!  It was a perfect day to cross the Chesapeake to Crisfield, MD on the eastern shore.  Known as the “Seafood Capital of the World”  Crisfield’s prime was many years ago when oysters and crabs were far more plentiful and fishermen worked to fill the plates of New Yorkers and others along the Eastern seaboard.  The town has gone into decline, then during the boom times a few years ago, condos sprung up until the real estate bust and now many are empty or unfinished.  Important native sons of this area are Harry Clifton Byrd, known as the “father of the University of Maryland” and John Millard Tawes, governor of Maryland between 1959 and 1967.

Crossing the bay today through Kedges Straits brought us just north of Smith and Tangiers Islands.  The remarkable ocean obstacle today was an old bombed out ship sitting between Smith Island and the major Chesapeake Bay shipping channel.  The navigation map reads, “bombing area.”  This is one of the famous targets for navy pilots in the area.  Fortunately, the airways were quiet as we passed this relic.

Few tourists are here this summer, and surprisingly, we are the only transients in the marina.  However, a nice German couple just came to visit.  He told his wife we had the “Rolls Royce” of trawlers.  I’m not sure we’d agree with that, but we do agree that most Grand Banks owners are very special people who take a lot of pride in their boats and skipper and maintain their own boats.

Spring Cove Marina in Solomons Island

University of Maryland Marine Research Ship: Elizabeth

Alan Returns From West Marine and Grocery Store

As we head to Crisfield on the eastern shore, we stop briefly again to overnight at Solomons Island because it is half way down and very convenient for almost everything like a good wine store that is right next to West Marine.  The grocery store and post office are a block away.  We definitely have this marina on our “best” list.  An olympic size pool for laps, a park for picnics, and plenty of great mechanics if things go wrong.

We had a beautiful cruise here today as the clouds and showers cleared.  Winds subsided to gentle breezes and the temperatures are about perfect in the 70’s.  As I sit writing this, a very large male osprey flies past and settles himself in the trees across the cove waiting, watching for the perfect fish for tonight.

Tomorrow, we leave early to head to Crisfield, MD, the setting for Katherine Patterson’s Jacob Have I Loved, a Newbury winner and one of my favorite young adult novels.  I’ve always been interested in the role that setting plays in novels.  Perhaps this will be a beginning of an article.

Windy in Cambridge

Kids Fired Canons at the Muriel June from Pirate Ship!

Muriel June Secure in Cambridge Facing into the Wind

The cruise from Oxford to Cambridge is just under two hours and we found the  NOAA”small craft warnings” this morning to be unfounded.  However, tonight the wind kicks surf over the bulkhead protecting us from rougher bay waters. Fortunately, we are pointed into the wind, actually cool wind so welcome after a summer of sweltering temperatures.  We are a couple of miles outside of Cambridge  at a new Hyatt Resort with excellent biking trails.  The facilities at the Hyatt are completely child friendly even including a pirate ship where kids come on board dressed in pirate garb, listen to stories, do role playing, and have lots of fun running around the deck like they think pirates might have done.

Our trip into Cambridge was a little disappointing.  The town has taken a huge hit with the economic downturn and many shops in the “historic” district are boarded up.  Empty store fronts are more the general rule than the exception.  Still we found several interesting art galleries, a museum, and a splendid store selling duck and geese decoys.  The town bus, costing $1.00 picked us up at the Hyatt and let us out downtown. Returning, we had quite a tour of the town passing the waterfront, the concert park, many churches, and lovely Victorian homes.  We dined at the golf club tonight where the waitress introduced herself as a Turkish citizen.  Surprisingly, she was from Sinop, Turkey, where Alan spent 13 months compliments of the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency.

Our other find yesterday came with a church visit.  Pepper Holmes is president of the Chesapeake Bay Grand Banks Owners Association.  We have been meaning to meet her, and suddenly there she was, greeting us in church.  So, we are signed up with the organization and will attend the Rendezvous the end of September here in Cambridge.  Finding knowledgeable boat buddies has been an important support  system for our journey and safety.

The full moon tonight brightens the entire sky and bay, casting brilliant reflections across the wind swept waters.  Exhilarating!

Biking in Oxford and Last Hot Day

Mystery Author Laura Lippman Autographs Books for Peggy

Alan and Bicycle in Front of Robert Morris Inn

We woke up this morning to hear the weather report saying, “This is the last hot day!”  I wonder how they know that for sure. But, rain is expected tomorrow and cooler weather.  Morning here is quiet and beautiful, even with the hazy sun rising in the east.  Even the jellyfish called “water nettles” seem lazy this morning.

Alan and I biked through town and found that the Robert Morris Inn where Mitchner (author of Chesapeake)stayed has reopened a couple of months ago. We plan to have brunch there on Sunday after visiting the small Episcopal church first built in the 1700’s.  We’ve loved visiting churches in each of the small towns we’ve visited and get another sense of the local culture.  Sadly, the populations in Episcopal churches we’ve visited are grey haired with the exception of the National Cathedral.  Still we’ve enjoyed hearing their philanthropy projects. Last Sunday in Solomons Island the church works with the public health department to offer free blood pressure checks.

Today in Oxford the Mystery Loves Company bookstore hosted mystery author Laura Lippman.  She is a native of Baltimore and a former journalist for the Baltimore Sun.  Of course, I bought several of her more than 20 titles for book signing.  The other place we plan to visit is the Hinkley boatyard.  Hinkley boats are  beautifully polished wooden boats that many dream of owning.

St. Michaels to Oxford

Sunrise Off the Stern of the MJ in St. Michaels

We had a beautiful 5 hour run around to Oxford this morning, leaving about 7 and getting to Oxford about noon.  But to get here we passed a point called “Blood Point Bar” where some nasty wrecks have happened and past a leaning lighthouse marking other wrecks and itself looking like a wreck.  Yesterday the American Spirit cruise boat came into St. Michaels.  This was the same boat we were on in New England in June with the Lakewood Yacht Club group.  We talked to one couple celebrating their 50th anniversary on the boat who said they were by far the youngest aboard.  A sign of the cruise ship times!  We also had a guest on board the Muriel June yesterday, a chocolate lab named “Mazing.”  That is for amazing.  She jumped of her sailboat and swam over to our swim platform where she climbed aboard and shook and shook and shook.  Very friendly lady!

In St. Michaels there were as many American flags as there were British Union Jacks.  We asked if the War of 1812 was still in progress there, but the waiter said, “No, we are trying to re-establish relations since the War of 1812 so the Brits will bring over their Pound Sterling.  We need their money!”

Oxford is called the “picture perfect” town in the guide book.  In 1683 the Maryland General Assembly proclaimed it a town and the port of entry for Maryland.  That was when tobacco was the main economic staple.  After the Revolutionary War their economy changed to fishing and tomatoes.  This is where James Michener lived while he wrote “Chesapeake” and where he ate the best Chesapeake crab cakes at the Robert Morris Inn, which sadly is closed.  The town is also known for the burial site of Tench Tilghman who was the “trusted aide” to George Washington.  He was the man who delivered the news to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia that the Americans won the battle of Yorktown and the British had surrendered the war.

Log Canoe Races in St. Michaels

When Balance Is NOT Right, The Log Canoe Goes Over. Crew and Boards All Come Tumbling Down Into The Water

Everyone Out On Thin Boards to Balance The Log Canoe

Today we spent most of the day at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and learned so much about the watermen economy with fishing, crabbing, and oystering; about hunting geese and ducks here and the Atlantic flyway, about boat building, light houses, and most important about the people who have lived here for generations.  We learned how the soft shell crabs are caught at the right molting time, how eels are caught, and how oysters are either gathered by tongs or by dredges.  There was elaborate information about the life cyele of crabs and it is amazing that any survive as they spend part of their life in the ocean before coming back into the Chesapeake.  We were surprised to hear how much of the land around the Chesapeake on the eastern shore has eroded away with each successive storm.  Some islands that once had little towns are now bare sand spits.

I loved the art exhibition by painter Marc Castelli who  is a terrific painter, photographer and sailer.  His artwork can be found at http://www.massoniart.com

But, what we found to be the most fascinating was Log Canoe Racing.  Crews attach planks under one side of the sailboat and the plank extends out the other side, so when the boat heels over, it can be balanced.  As many as 3 planks and 12 people extend over the water.  We noticed in films and paintings that none had life jackets on.  DUMB!  It seems like a very exciting sport, however, and apparently has been going on for over 50 years.

St. Michaels Northern Most Destination for 2010

Muriel June Nestled in the Trees in the Solomons

Lighthouse and Old Sailboats in St. Michaels

Even with a 70% chance of wind and rain coming today, we took the chance and left very early (6 a.m.) from Solomons Island.  With following seas and light winds we headed north to St. Michaels, MD on the Eastern Shore.  We tied at Don Pascal’s Marina by 11:30 having come about 50 miles.  No rain, calm seas!  We like that type of cruising.

St. Michaels is named for the Archangel St. Michael and was founded about 1677.  James Braddock purchased the land around here in 1778 and developed the town which is famous for fooling the British in the War of 1812 when they hung lanterns from the top most part of trees to fool them into thinking the shore line was higher and far more populated.  In the later 1800s it became a major ship building port building the Baltimore Clippers.  Today it is home to many watermen and seafood restaurants.  The sailing community loves St. Michaels which hosts several regattas here during the summer.  The big tourist attraction is the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. We look forward to visiting the museum while we are here.